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“This could break him.” Frankie takes another long sip, watching me closely over the rim.
This could be the way to end this.
“It shouldn’t be hard to find them. I’ll get on it with Grayson. It’s a bold move. They could kill Nico,” Frankie says, breaking me from my haze.
Doubt stabs into my chest. “Or they take another one of ours. Hell, they could take Maddie next. They’ve proven how low they will stoop. I can’t do that to Grayson.”
His gray eyes meet mine, and he nods.
“Come on, let’s go. I need to get a real drink.” I pocket my phone, letting out a ragged breath.
I need to down some scotch and then sink into a woman. Preferably of Italian descent. With big brown eyes, long, curly jet-black hair, and a killer body.
CHAPTERTWO
rosa
“Rosa, get your ass here now!” The deep resonance of his voice carries up the balcony.
“No!” I scream down the stairs at my dad.
I slam my old bedroom door shut, leaning against the heavy wood. This is why I never come home. As if it wasn’t enough having me followed around by his spies, now, he wants me married off. None of that holds my interest.I only come home for one reason: his supply.
Pain sears through my spine as I am thrown onto the floor when he barges through the door. It’s dulled by the fact that I’d already raided his vodka stash before he caught me.
“Get out!”Kicking my legs, I push myself across the smooth floor, away from him.
He yanks me up by the arm. His dark eyes, much like mine, bore into me. His brown hair is graying at the sides, but there isn’t any weakness as his fingers bruisingly tighten into me.
I try to tug it away, but he holds me in place, towering over me.“You need to sort yourself out, girl.”
“I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just having fun.”It’s the lie that everyone around me knows. The mafia princess without a care in the world, who goes out to party every night.
“You can’t keep running, Rosa.”
I straighten my spine. “From what,Dad?”I spit out his name with venom.
“You know what.”
I let out a laugh. “You can’t even say it, can you? You can’t accept what happened to me! If you can’t speak about it, how the hell am I supposed to deal with it? Do you have any idea how fucking hard it is?”
I snatch my arm from him. He sighs, taking a step away from me. Emboldened, I press closer. The one thing about being constantly drunk and high: the courage that comes with it.
“I am dealing with it the only way I know how. You decided to let him live; you didn’t protect me. The same way you didn’t protect Mom or Nona.”
His eyes flash with anger, his face reddening. He lifts his hand and I flinch. It doesn’t take away the fact he is completely responsible for their deaths. What happened to me was due to his failure.
“Clean yourself up. Next week, I am discussing a marriage arrangement for you. No one is going to want to marry a junkie.”
I bow my head. Tears sting in my eyes. I don’t want to be this way, chasing my demons away with any poison I can find. Anything to make me feel numb, to stop the nightmares, the fear. The embarrassment.
No one understands. Not even my own dad.
“Well, I won’t be getting married, then. Like you said, no man wants a woman like me.”
“Go to therapy, to rehab. You have to find a way. You can’t live like this.”
It’s the only way I know how.
